Long Term Care Insurance Industry Searches For Broader Market

The long term care insurance industry may need to re-examine its value proposition to break out of the small subset of current clients and serve the broader market, according to a new study by Conning Research and Consulting.

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"Today, Long Term Care Insurance is sold primarily by specialist agents to a niche market of affluent and risk-averse seniors," said Terence Martin, analyst at Conning Research & Consulting. "Over the past few years long term care sales growth has declined in both individual and group markets despite the best efforts of insurers. We have sized the potential market for Long Term Care Insurance and estimate that the current industry penetration is just 9 percent."

The Conning Research study, "Long Term Care Insurance: Searching for the Value Proposition," quantifies the market need and potential market scope, and identifies the current product features and pricing challenges. Further, the study presents potential industry responses to flagging growth.

"Despite considerable product innovation over the past few years, the Long Term Care Insurance industry's solutions still do not resonate with the broader market," said Stephan Christiansen, director of research at Conning. "Incremental product and pricing innovation and consumer education continue in an attempt to bridge this gap, but it is likely not enough to ensure significant consumer understanding and acceptance. It may well be time for the industry to rethink the entire product offering in an effort to break new ground and change the value proposition."